BTOOOM! – 07

This episode brought us the most intense battle of BTOOOM! so far. The intelligence of two gamers combined versus the physical strength of a former mercenary – who do you think will win? Odds would say that a mercenary stands a better chance, and perhaps that is true. But this game has many functions Masashi aren’t used to that the gamers are fairly familiar with. So to me, both sides had an equal chance at coming out of this battle alive. Fortunately, it wasn’t Masashi. As a former mercenary who enjoys torturing his victims, it’s easy to see why he was nominated for this challenge. He is certainly a man who has no morals left. Such a man doesn’t really have anything to lose in this game, and for him, it must be very easy to play it. Perhaps Masashi would’ve had a better chance at winning if he would simply follow his instinct as he did in the beginning instead of teaming up with Natsume, Kousuke’s former lawyer. Their teamwork was quite questionable. It’s easy to see that Natsume felt powerful while working with Masashi. His chances of survival were higher than they were when he was teamed up with Kousuke. Or perhaps he had simply gone insane… The team was probably the reason why Natsume managed to survive as long as he did, but for Masashi, it’s hard to see any benefits for him in this. Maybe he needed someone smart for the parts of the game he couldn’t handle, such as the BIMs, or anything requiring brains in general? Natsume would probably be of better help to Masashi if he would’ve been saner.

A team that is sane and had the brains (and a lot of luck) is Ryouta and Himiko’s team. It was painful to see Ryouta abandon Taira after all this time they’ve spent together, but that was probably the better option. Would he have stayed with Taira, Himiko would most likely be tortured to death by Masashi who might come after Ryouta later. By saving Himiko, he beat two other players and hopefully, he’ll be able to return to Taira before something bad happens. Taira who is badly injured from a venomous bite on his leg and recently had some fingers cut off is probably not able to move very well so radars won’t detect him that easily. So while Ryouta did something very saddening, it might’ve been the best choice.

It’s quite interesting though, that Ryouta wanted to save Himiko mainly because he believed she was his virtual wife from BTOOOM!. While that is true, it’s a fact that Himiko chose to hide from Ryouta which is quite reasonable. Himiko who hates her life sees the virtual game as an escape from reality. By keeping her relationship with Ryouta a virtual imagination, it can remain her dream. That doesn’t mean things can’t change. I really hope to see some romantic feelings develop between our main characters on this island. But there is hardly any room for romance when opponent after opponent shows up. Next week’s episode seems to feature some new characters, and some of them are girls. It’ll be nice to see some other females aside from Himiko!

glad to see they finish the fight in one episode… would have left me raging so hard if they break it into two episodes…

there are some minor details that was omitted in the anime, for instance how Sakamoto saw the trap bomb… so I strongly recommend people to read the manga (this is not to say the anime is bad at all xD)

Most minor details that are left out are due to censoring, I believe. The rape scene from Himiko’s past had nudity for example, and Taira’s fingertips flying off the rest of his hand were clearly shown, lol.

They censored Masashi after his skin melted. I mean they didn’t really, its just that if you were to compare it to the manga page well…that sh*t freaked me out more than it did in the anime because it was more detailed while this Masashi looked like a pile of goo. I’m guessing the directors didn’t want to scare anyone by animated what Masashi really looked like…

I’m wondering why Masashi didn’t kill Taira. He mentioned it would be a pain to retrieve Sakamoto’s when he fell in the cliff so he does want to obtain chips. Even if he was wrong in his assumption that Sakamoto has 3 chips because of the 3 bomb types Sakamoto has, Taira has 2 hidden chips with him if he searched his body.
If he wants to get chips, he should have killed the one he injured behind him as he was defenseless and cannot fight back anymore. It’s stupid to leave him alive in that situation.
I can understand not killing Himiko as he seems to want to torture and make her suffer and she is akin to spoils of victory along with retrieving the trunk and obtaining BIMs. So why then didn’t he kill Taira?

Besides that, the fight was pretty good. I liked the detail in this picture with the reflection.
And as a shut-in and only playing games all day, Sakamoto can do moves pretty well and has good reaction time. Plus he has a virtual waifu which he now found in real life. Sounds familiar lol.
So new enemies next week plus Himiko going dere now for Sakamoto. Good I guess.

I believe that merc thinks that Taira might come to save the girl, and at that point, it will be an easy job. Plus, Taira is useless now, so it is only a matter of time before he die off… a more speculative view is that Taira poses no threat to him, so he sees no fun in killing Taira…

as to Sakamoto’s talent, it will be explained in later content… but yeah, it is kind of god-like for Sakamoto

“While that is true, it’s a fact that Himiko chose to hide from Ryouta which is quite reasonable. Himiko who hates her life sees the virtual game as an escape from reality. By keeping her relationship with Ryouta a virtual imagination, it can remain her dream.”

i can’t seem to understand this part, it’s understandable wanting to keep her relationship with Ryouta a virtual imagination, so tht it can remain her dream since the virtual Ryouta is probably much more perfect than a real-life Ryouta, but simply by meeting Ryouta(and he already introduced himself as Sakamoto from the game) isn’t tht dream already shattered?

I think she didn’t want the virtual situation to change. She knows who her husband is IRL but she won’t attempt to change anything in the game. However, if he were to know, things might change. He might act differently in the game towards her when, and if they come back home. At least, that’s what I think.

i see, tht line of thought does make sense, although her knowing who her husband is IRL has the same amount of impact on the situation, it’s very probable(natural even) tht she doesn’t realize this fact.
anyway i see your point now, thanks.

ok cool point but theyre in a death game why would it even matter? are they even going survive for much longer? well they will cuz theyire main characters and its a story but still! why not be impured with the one you like while you can enjoy what time you have left? whose to say them guys pulling the strings dont decide weere bored screw this pull the plug… yesss sir! kill switch! all dead!

It isn’t that good to have sex on that island. Tyrannos Japan is watching and recording the videos after all. I mean if they made it off the island alive, they wouldn’t be happy with Tyrannos Japan keeping a sex tape of them and watching it secretly everyday.

LOL need i remind you??? its a DEATH GAME! sex tape? How high of a worry is it of yours if you can die at any second KA BTOOOMMM! i think its the least of their worries if some freaky dude gets the jollies from them gettin it onnnn… Show Spoiler ▼

I think it’s more like she wasn’t quite ready to admit Ryouta as being her in game husband right away. Remember that there was a bit of revelation in this episode and that is that they actually got married in game after her bad experience. So Sakamoto is most likely a lot more important to her, as being the person that cheered her up from her horrible life, then most realise. So admitting to that she is ‘the’ Himiko also involves reconciling that Ryouta and Sakamoto is the same person and the feelings that comes with that.

don’t underestimate the difficulty of getting a job :p
besides some people who are amazing in extreme circumstances can be useless under normal circumstances, thts hardly strange(he just has different skill sets or things need to be this dangerous for him to get serious, or some other reason like tht).

A very dramatic episode indeed. The whole virtual wedding scene with the ring and fireworks was rather silly though. I mean, come on, the only point of the game is blowing people up, no game designer would add something this saccharine.

a pair of coordinated players/fighters can defeat stronger opponent. It is inevitable that even weak attack can distract enemy for crucial moment and elave his proverbial Achilles heel exposed. Still Masashi was probably strongest opponent yet. Fortunately his coordination with lawyer partner was much worse….